In The Satanic Temple, Inc. v. Campbell, (SD IA, Nov. 2, 2026), an Iowa federal district court issued a preliminary injunction requiring Iowa officials to issue a permit to The Satanic Temple for it to hold its annual holiday event on December 12, 2026, in the Iowa Capitol Rotunda. For three years Capitol authorities had denied TST's application primarily because the event would include a costume contest featuring Krampus, a figure from European folklore, who is usually portrayed with a bundle of sticks in his hand. Officials feared that the presence of sticks with the costumed participants would harm children. The court said in part:
The concern Director Campbell described rests on what the Krampus character means and whether it might frighten children, which is not a permissible basis for excluding speech. And to the extent the concern rests on the sticks carried as part of the costumes, it cannot justify denying the entire event....
... A State possesses legitimate power to protect children from harm, “but that does not include a free-floating power to restrict the ideas to which children may be exposed.”...
Excluding Krampus costumes because they might frighten children, while admitting the season’s celebratory displays, targets a perspective on the holiday rather than the holiday itself. The Supreme Court has held that disfavoring expression because it offends, or because officials judge it immoral or scandalous, is viewpoint discrimination.... Excluding a costume because officials find it frightening rests on the same kind of judgment....
ACLU Iowa issued a press release announcing the decision.
